1976 Guild F-50 Jumbo Guitar

October 28, 2019

1976 Guild F-50 Jumbo Guitar

A friend of mine has used this as an on-and-off-again gigging instrument for the last decade. A lot of folks who are into Guilds love this model because it's pefectly-suited to heavy-handed strumming and picking in the "backing a band" context. They have a lot of headroom and the more you put into it, the more you get out. So "big pickers" -- push it! The design's only weakness, I think, is for folks with a lighter touch who want something that responds quickly to delicate picking. The sheer size of the top and its long scale want more energy transfer than that, though I have to say it does sound nice with bare fingers.

The sound from this model is punchy, loud, and direct with a good, gutsy bottom-end. This particular guitar has a bit more warmth on the lows than most of the F-50s I've played, too, which makes it feel like it spreads-out in a wider spectrum than most jumbos. The neck is pretty typical for the time -- a more-lightly radiused board with a medium C-shape to the rear. One would expect this to be a bit like a more-tame version of a "Gibson" feel, but to my left-hand these feel more like Martins or J-200s because of that long scale length.

This one's in pretty good shape but does have a small section of replaced/missing binding on the side of the neck, average wear-and-tear to the finish, and I did have to make the saddle slot wider some time back to facilitate having a properly-compensated saddle. My buddy had me install a K&K pickup under the hood, too, so this thing is ready to plug-in live and is worry-free and good-sounding while doing so. I haven't stumped for any other acoustic pickup type in the last 12 years. That's how much I (and many of my customers) like them!

Per usual F-50 specs, this has fancy pearl inlay in the board and ebony (rather than rosewood) for the board and bridge. Figured maple-veneer on the back gives it a "pretty blonde" look and multi-ply binding all over add a touch of class.

Repairs included: a previous fret level/dress, replacement bone saddle (it comes with two different-height saddles and some height-adjustment shims) and saddle-slot widening, K&K pickup install, replacement ebony bridge pins, and setup.

Setup notes: action is perfect at 3/32" EA and 1/16" DGBE at the 12th fret, strung with 54w, 42w, 32w, 24w, 16, 12 gauges. A lot of folks string these with mediums to really get the goods out of the sound, but I think 12s feel a lot nicer to handle on the long scale.

Scale length: 25 5/8"

Nut width: 1 11/16"

String spacing at nut: 1 3/8"

String spacing at bridge: 2 1/8"

Body length: 20 5/8"

Lower bout width: 17 1/8"

Waist width: 10 5/8"

Upper bout width: 12 1/2"

Side depth at endpin: 5"

Top wood: solid spruce

Back/sides wood: ply maple back, maple sides

Neck wood: two-piece maple plus center-strips

Bracing type: x-braced

Fretboard: ebony

Bridge: ebony, bone saddle

Neck feel: slim-to-medium C/D shape, ~14" board radius

Condition notes: there are no cracks but there's plenty of finish weather-checking and mild-to-medium usewear throughout. The bridge has been reglued in the past and there's pickwear around the soundhole. The frets are low-ish but wide along the lines of '60s Gibson frets. They play fine but someone who likes tall frets should avoid it or will want it to be refretted. The bridge pins and saddle are replacements. There's also one small section of neck binding that's replaced with non-matching binding.

It comes with: its original hard case.

The truss-rod cover has a nick out of it at the "bottom" screw.

As you can see, there's plenty of saddle height. The second saddle is taller, yet, and was meant for winter use on this instrument as it lost mositure while gigging far from home.

Here's that spot of replaced neck binding -- in a funny pearloid strip. The owner had me replace this patch really quick maybe 5 or 6 years ago, and this was the only binding material I had at the moment. So -- that's what's remained. I have cream binding (without the extra plies) if that would suit the next owner better.